THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT -...

61
THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT: The Influence of Occupational Identity by Association on the Motivation to Pursue a Top Managing Position among Women in Denmark Sabrina Spangsdorf Liverpool University School of Psychology Research paper May 2016

Transcript of THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT -...

Page 1: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT: The Influence of Occupational Identity by Association on

the Motivation to Pursue a Top Managing Position among

Women in Denmark

Sabrina Spangsdorf Liverpool University

School of Psychology

Research paper May 2016

Page 2: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

2

CONTENTS

Resumé på dansk ........................................................................................................................................ 4

1 Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 7

2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 9

3 Literature review .............................................................................................................................. 13

3.1 Occupational identity ............................................................................................................... 13

3.2 Leadership identity ................................................................................................................... 15

3.3 Identity-based motivation ........................................................................................................ 18

3.4 Research question .................................................................................................................... 20

3.5 Aim and objectives ................................................................................................................... 20

4 Methods ........................................................................................................................................... 22

4.1 Participants ............................................................................................................................... 22

4.2 Design ....................................................................................................................................... 22

4.3 Measuring identity ................................................................................................................... 23

4.4 The Bem Sex-Role Inventory .................................................................................................... 23

4.5 Career Aspiration Scale Revised ............................................................................................... 24

4.6 The questionnaire .................................................................................................................... 25

4.7 Data analysis guide ................................................................................................................... 25

5 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 28

5.1 Hypotheses testing ................................................................................................................... 28

5.2 Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) ....................................................................................... 30

5.3 Structural model ....................................................................................................................... 33

5.4 Mediated moderation .............................................................................................................. 35

5.6 Thematic analysis ..................................................................................................................... 36

6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 39

6.1 Perceived identity of a top managing position ........................................................................ 39

6.2 Job level of parents and partner .............................................................................................. 40

6.3 Occupational identity by association as a factor ...................................................................... 41

6.4 Limitations and future studies ................................................................................................. 42

6.5 Conclusion and practical implications ...................................................................................... 44

References ................................................................................................................................................ 45

Appendix A ............................................................................................................................................... 54

Page 3: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

3

Appendix B ............................................................................................................................................... 57

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1 - 25 BSRI-SE items for the perceived identity of a top managing position and for own identity ............... 28 Table 2 - Standardized regression weights – factor loadings of items and error variances ...................................... 31 Table 3 - Model fit ................................................................................................................................................... 32 Table 4 - Measurement properties for study constructs ........................................................................................... 33 Table 5 - Means, standard deviations and correlations between variables ............................................................... 33 Table 6 - Model fit for the hypothesized structural model and alternative models .................................................. 34 Table 7 - Moderated mediation with bootstrapping – Type of industry ................................................................... 36 Table 8 - Thematic analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 1- Hypothesized structural model ................................................................................................................. 27 Figure 2 - Hypothesized model ................................................................................................................................ 34 Figure 3 - Final structural model with OWNID (MAS and FEM) as mediating factor ........................................... 35

Page 4: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

4

Resumé på dansk

På verdensplan er der generelt få kvinder i topledelse (Grant Thornton International Business

Rapport, 2015; Hausmann, Tyson & Zahidi, 2011). I Danmark udgør kvinderne kun 16% af

bestyrelsesmedlemmerne og 14% af topleder stillingerne (Hausmann, Tyson & Zahidi, 2011).

Både forskning og erfaring viser, at flere kvinder i den øverste ledelse har en positiv effekt på

bundlinjen i forhold til indtjening, fastholdelse af kunder og produktudvikling (Armstrong et al,

2010; Credit Suisse, 2014). Danmark har derfor ikke råd til at forsømme eller overse halvdelen

af sin talentmasse. Så hvorfor er kvinderne underrepræsenteret i de øverste ledelseslag i danske

virksomheder?

Sociale, kulturelle og uddannelsesmæssige barrierer er velkendte faktorer. Men vi ved kun lidt

om, hvilken rolle identitet spiller og muligheden for at kunne identificere sig med en bestemt

jobfunktion eller rolle. Ashcraft (2013) hævder, at alle former for jobs og stillinger har sin egen

identitet bestående af en række centrale kendetegn og egenskaber som associeres med det

enkelte job eller rolle. Kendetegnene og egenskaberne er tæt forbundet med de sociale

identiteter, som jobbets/stillingens eksisterende udøvere besidder. Det skaber jobs og erhverv,

der synes at være "velegnet til visse mennesker og ikke-egnet for andre" (Ashcraft, 2013, s. 7-

8); noget Ashcraft kalder ’occupational identity by association’. Denne rapport har undersøgt,

om occupational identity by association er en faktor blandt danske kvinder, og som indirekte

bidrager til en underrepræsentation af kvinder i den øverste ledelse. Dette er den første

undersøgelse om occupational identity by association i Danmark, og det er også det første

forsøg nogensinde på at studere occupational identity by association kvantitativt.

Ashcraft bruger udtrykket ’Glass Slipper Effect’ i tråd med lignende udtryk, som bruges om

kvinders udfordringer i ledelse, nemlig glass ceiling, glass cliff og glass eskalator. Glass

Slipper Effekten er den situation, når kvinder ikke kan identificere sig med en toplederrolle

eller som oplever et manglende match mellem sin egen identitet og den identitet som en

toplederrolle har fået. Denne identitetskonflikt påvirker kvindernes motivation til at forfølge en

toplederkarriere og skaber en opfattelse af, at det ikke er muligt at forene toplederidentiteten

med ens egen identitet eller at en toplederposition slet ikke anses for at være en realistisk

mulighed; altså at ”glasskoen” ikke passer.

Page 5: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

5

Analysen i denne rapport er baseret på spørgeskemabesvarelser fra 1054 danske kvinder

mellem 18 og 60 år. Analysen viser, at danske kvinder har en stærk maskulin

identitetsopfattelse af en toplederrolle, men at deres egen identitet er langt mere forskelligartet

og har et mere lige forhold mellem maskuline og feminine egenskaber. Resultatet af structurel

equation modelling analyse viser et stor gab mellem kvindernes egen identitet og deres

identitetsopfattelse af en toplederrolle, hvilket påvirker deres motivation til at forfølge en

toplederkarriere; jo større gabet er, jo mindre motiverede er kvinderne. Analysen viser også, at

kvinder i mandsdominerede brancher oplever en stor overensstemmelse mellem deres egen

identitet og den identitet som tillægges en toplederrolle, hvorimod kvinder i kvindedominerede

brancher oplever en lav overensstemmelse mellem deres egen identitet og en toplederrolle.

Forældrenes jobniveau påvirker ikke motivationen hos kvinderne; til gengæld viser analysen, at

hvis en kvinde har en partner, der bestrider en toplederfunktion, så har det en positiv

indflydelse på kvindens motivation. Resultaterne viser samlet, at der er behov for langt mere

forskelligartede rollemodeller med fokus på både maskuline og feminine træk og egenskaber og

mindre fokus på køn som en faktor i sig selv. Resultaterne viser også, at der er behov for at

reducere og nedbryde det meget kønsopdelte arbejdsmarked i Danmark, da det virker som en

stærk barriere mod at få flere kvinder ind i topledelse.

Vigtigste resultater:

Der er behov for at synliggøre flere forskelligartede rollemodeller indenfor topledelse

med fokus på både maskuline og feminine træk og egenskaber og mindre fokus på køn

som en selvstændig faktor. Især er det vigtigt at vise, at en toplederrolle består af flere

facetter, herunder både maskuline og feminine egenskaber, da disse findes hos både

mænd og kvinder og ikke er relateret til det biologiske køn.

Skoler, uddannelsesinstitutioner, store virksomheder, fagforeninger og ikke mindst de

danske medier har en meget vigtig rolle i at fremme flere forskelligartede rollemodeller

og ikke bare benytte en kvinde som rollemodel og tro at hun automatisk appellerer til

andre kvinder. De fleste identificerer sig ikke nødvendigvis med kønnet hos en

rollemodel, men i langt højere grad med de maskuline og feminine egenskaber, som

personen udviser.

Page 6: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

6

Det meget kønsopdelte arbejdsmarked i Danmark fungerer som en stærk barriere. Ved

aktivt at arbejde for at reducere og udligne kønsopdelte brancher, kan man påvirke

motivationen positivt hos kvinder til at forfølge en toplederkarriere.

Danske virksomheder bør give flere faktuelle oplysninger om det at være topleder ved

at fortælle om de konkrete opgaver, der ligger i rollen, om antallet af arbejdstimer, om

den fleksibilitet der ofte følger med en toplederrolle og den frihed som tillader, at man

helt kan administrere sin egen tid. Det kan tilsammen være med til at afmystificere

rollen og gøre den mere tilgængelig for kvinder, herunder at flere kvinder bedre vil

kunne identificere sig med en toplederrolle.

Page 7: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

7

1 Abstract

Top managing positions worldwide are occupied by relatively few women (Grant Thornton

International Business Report, 2015; Hausmann, Tyson & Zahidi, 2011). In Denmark only

16% of board members and 14% of top managing positions are held by women (Hausmann,

Tyson & Zahidi, 2011). Evidence shows that management diversity in general can have a

positive effect on firm performance (Armstrong et al., 2010; Credit Suisse, 2014). Denmark

simply cannot afford to neglect half of its talent pool. So why are women underrepresented in

the highest corporate levels?

Social, cultural and educational barriers are well-known. But little is known about the role of

identity and being able to identify with a top managing position and how it might be a piece of

the puzzle. Ashcraft (2013) argues that occupational identities and central characteristics of an

occupation are associated with the social identities of their practitioners. Such association

creates occupations that appear to be “suited for certain people and implausible to others”

(Ashcraft, 2013, p. 7-8) what Ashcraft terms ‘occupational identity by association’. This study

examined whether occupational identity by association is a factor among Danish women

contributing to the underrepresentation of women in senior management. This is the first study

of occupational identity by association in Denmark and it is also the first attempt to study

occupational identity by association quantitatively.

The ‘Glass Slipper Effect’ is when women are not able to match their own identity with their

perceived identity of a top managing position. This conflict of identity affects their motivation to

pursue top managing positions and creates a perception that the occupational identity is

impossible to incorporate or the occupation is simply not even considered to be an option.

This study is based on survey responses from 1054 Danish women between 18 and 60 years.

The analysis shows that Danish women have a strong masculine identity perception of a top

managing position, but that their own identity is much more diverse and equal between

masculine and feminine identity measures. Results of structural equation modelling suggested a

gap between women’s own identity and their perceived identity of a top managing position

which affects their motivation to pursue senior management; the greater the gap, the less

Page 8: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

8

motivated. The analyses indicated that women in male-dominated industries experience lower

incongruence between own identity and perceived identity of a senior role than women in

female-dominated industries. The analyses also suggested that job level of parents do not affect

motivation, but having a partner in senior management has a positive influence on women’s

motivation. The findings indicate that there is a need for more diverse role models with focus on

both masculine and feminine traits of a top managing position and less focus on gender. The

findings also suggest that there is a need to reduce the highly gender-segregated labour market

in Denmark as it acts as a strong barrier.

Practitioner points

There is a need for more diverse role models with focus on both masculine and

feminine traits of a top managing position and less focus on gender.

Schools, educational institutions, large organisations, trade unions and the media have a

very important role in promoting more diverse role models and not just use a woman as

role model thinking she automatically appeals to other women.

The highly gender-segregated labour market in Denmark acts as a barrier and by

actively reducing the high level of gendered industries, more women are likely to

pursue and be selected to senior positions.

Organisations should provide more factual information about a top managing role,

about the tasks, the number of working hours, the flexibility and freedom to administer

your own work schedule as it can make the role more obtainable for women.

Page 9: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

9

2 Introduction

Top managing positions worldwide are occupied by relatively few women (Grant Thornton

International Business Report, 2015; Hausmann, Tyson & Zahidi, 2011). In Denmark only

16% of board members and 14% of top managing positions are held by women (Hausmann,

Tyson & Zahidi, 2011). Evidence shows that management diversity in general can have a

positive effect on firm performance (Armstrong et al., 2010; Credit Suisse, 2014). Denmark

simply cannot afford to neglect half of its talent pool. So why are women underrepresented in

the highest corporate levels?

Social, cultural and educational barriers are well-known (Boatwright & Egidio, 2003;

Haveman & Beresford, 2012; Smith, Smith & Verner, 2010). For example, although more

women than men have secondary and tertiary education, especially university degrees (EU

Commission Report, 2012; Hausmann, Tyson & Zahidi, 2011), the educational field is still

highly gender-segregated with fewer women in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering

and Mathematics (STEM) (Bloksgaard, 2011; Holt et al, 2006). Previously, many top

managers were recruited from finance and law, but today they are increasingly recruited from

STEM fields (Haveman & Beresford, 2012), Holt et al, 2006), therefore the explanation for

this gender-segregation may be located in occupational societal identities (Bloksgaard, 2011).

In Denmark women have one of the most equal employment rates in the world. Labour force

participation for women sits at a rate of 75% whereas it is at 81% for men (OECD.Stats, 2015).

However, Denmark has a very gender-segregated job market (European Commission’s Expert

Group on Gender and Employment, 2009) with more women working in traditional female

industries such as nursing and education, and men dominating the top managing positions in

those occupations (Smith, Smith & Verner, 2010). Suggesting a perception of ‘masculine’ and

‘feminine’ professions exist, and that this perception influences men and women’s choices in

the job market (Bloksgaard, 2011).

Women are often not part of the informal networks from which candidates to board and top

managing positions are recruited (Linehan, 2001; Schwarts, Luycks & Vignoles, 2011;

Timberlake, 2005) and women are often subconsciously discriminated against because they are

Page 10: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

10

not perceived as having the requisite masculine characteristics that top management desire

(Djøf, 2008). Two Danish studies (Ellersgaard & Larsen, 2010; Larsen, Ellersgaard, &

Bernsen, 2015) have examined the elite in Denmark and found that they primarily came from a

small number of families, that top positions are often ‘inherited’ from father to son more than

from father to daughter and that the men in top positions are married to women from the same

circles. Even though networks and being male increases the chances of landing a top managing

position, it does not explain why it is primarily men and not women who end up in senior

positions. Being male or being part of certain networks cannot independently explain why

women are less represented.

The responsibilities related to family life and society in general have been naturally divided

between men and women based on physiology. Childbearing abilities make women the

primary caretaker and therefore they are traditionally more closely linked to domestic

responsibilities (Eagly, Wood & Diekman, 2000; Myers & Twenge, 2013). This division of

roles has spilled into the field of management where female behaviours are often categorized

as mainly communal in characteristic (Eagly, Wood & Diekman, 2000). Male roles on the

other hand are characterized through traits such as confidence and self-assertion as well as

having a desire for achievement (Eagly, 1987; Madsen, Jensen, Madsen, Neergaard & Ulhøi,

2007). According to social role theory stereotypic gender roles control behaviour in two ways

(Eagly, 1987). Stereotypic gender roles influence the actual behaviour as they drive the

expectations that constitute the behaviour and they describe the social beliefs about how men

and women should ideally behave. This influences the perception of women in management: if

women express agentic characteristics they step out of their expected social role behaviour

which is viewed negatively in society, but if they express communal characteristics expected

of their gender role, they are viewed as less competent for the role of a top position in

management (Ingols & Shapiro, 2015; Karelaia & Guillen, 2011). Thornton (2013) ranked the

percentage of women in senior management in all countries, with Denmark only receiving a

place as number 28. Countries such as China, Poland, Russia, Georgia and Botswana all have

more women in senior management than Denmark. Many of the countries with more than 29%

women in senior management score high on collectivism (Hofstede, 2015). Costa, Terracciano

and McCrae (2001) report that gender differences are more strongly related to personality traits

and are more marked in individualistic cultures. Collectivist behaviour is more determined by

Page 11: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

11

social norms and social roles and social roles are related to functions rather than personality

(Triandis, 1989). Social roles including gender roles in collectivistic cultures are related to

tasks, but in individualistic cultures social roles and gender roles are related to identity.

The aforementioned barriers only address the opportunity for women to enter top managing

positions and cannot explain entirely the underrepresentation of women in top management

(Boatwright & Egidio, 2003; Savery, 1990). An important factor for wanting a certain position

or job type requires a degree of desire and motivation (DeRue, Ashford & Cotton, 2009;

Oyserman, 2009). Motivation for a job position or career path is established through identity;

that a person is able to identify herself with that job role (Oyserman, 2009; Oyserman &

Destin, 2010) and there are limited studies exploring theses processes among women in top

managing positions (Schwarts, Luycks & Vignoles, 2011).

Occupational identity and identity-based motivation plays an important role when it comes to

desiring top managing positions (Adamson, 2015; Ashcraft, 2013; Oyserman, 2009;

Oyserman, 2013; Oyserman & Destin, 2010). Traditionally, occupational identity has been

dominated by a unilateral view that people derive identity from their occupation (Phelan &

Kinsella, 2009), but Ashcraft (2005, 2013) proposes that occupational identity has a reciprocal

relation; that an occupation has an identity of its own derived from associated people, i.e. we

associate a certain identity with an occupation based on values, traits, roles, gender, race etc.

Such association creates occupations that appear to be “suited for certain people and

implausible to others” (Ashcraft, 2013, p. 7-8), what Ashcraft terms ‘occupational identity by

association’. Ashcraft (2013) suggests that if women cannot identify with the role of a top

managing position, they lose interest in pursuing such careers or view them as impossible to

achieve. Based on the phrase ‘if the shoe fits’, Ashcraft developed the term ‘the glass slipper

effect’ in line with the glass analogy in women’s studies (glass ceiling, glass cliff and glass

escalator). A specified library and online search for occupational identity by association

revealed only two studies: one in the US among airline pilots (Ashcraft, 2013) and one in

Russia among psychological counsellors (Adamson, 2015). Both studies found that people that

enter a specific occupation are those that identify with the collective identity of that

occupation. If a top managing position is viewed as an occupation and women are not able to

identity with this occupation, it may explain why there is a lack of women in top management

Page 12: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

12

and why organisations report that women sometimes decline promotions or simply do not

apply for these types of positions in the first place (Desvaux, DevillardHoellinger & Meaney,

2008; Gino, Wilmuth & Brooks, 2015). The aim of this study is to examine the influence of

occupational identity by association on the level of motivation to pursue a top managing

position among women in Denmark.

Page 13: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

13

3 Literature review

3.1 Occupational identity

The study of identity development can be traced from Freud’s early writings through Erikson’s

eight stages of development, to Marcia’s empirical findings and operationalization (Schwartz,

2001). Identity, or one’s sense of self, is neither simple nor stable and individuals can hold

several identities all related in one way or another (Schwarts, Luycks & Vignoles, 2011). There

is no unified definition of what constitutes identity, but professional occupation appears to be a

central element of identity and identity formation (Schwartz, 2001). Skorikov and Vondracek

(1998) concluded that occupational identity played the leading role in the identity formation

among adolescents, well ahead of identities within lifestyle, religion, politics and ideology. In

Norway Danielsen et al. (2000) found that work was the primary influence on overall identity

regardless of whether the participants had a job, were unemployed or attended college. Although

Skorikov and Vondracek’s (1998) was a cross-sectional, instead of a longitudinal, and Danielsen

et al’s (2000) participant numbers were small, both studies were conducted in a Western context

and reflected earlier findings that occupation in an individualistic culture is related to identity

(Triandis, 1989).

Christiansen (1999, 2000) was the first to link theories within occupation and identity focusing

on how occupation influences and determines an individual’s personal and social identity.

Unruh, Versnel and Kerr (2002) supported the approach of Christiansen by defining

occupational identity as “the expression of the physical, affective, cognitive, and spiritual

aspects of human nature, in an interaction with the institutional, social, cultural and political

dimensions of the environment…” (Unruh, Versnel & Kerr, 2002, p. 12). Despite the fact that

Christiansen includes the social context and interaction in the development of occupational

identity and that Unruh also includes cultural and political aspects, they all view occupational

identity as something that the individual controls. Their dominant discourse is centred round

self-efficacy, self-confidence, self-esteem, personal motivators, and personal goals, all of which

are viewed as something which the individual is aware of, makes cognitive reflections about,

and actively seek to improve, change, adapt, or follow. In most studies occupational identity is

defined as a mixture of one’s perception of occupational interests, abilities, goals and values

based on one’s competencies and skills (Schwarts, Luycks & Vignoles, 2011). Occupational

Page 14: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

14

identity has traditionally been viewed as a personal construct devoid of gender, age, physical

appearance, ethnicity, nationality, religion and other characteristics. There is no question that the

individual self and thoughts about identity are essential to the development of identity and

occupational identity, however, occupational identity cannot be seen as separate from the

environment or as arising from within individuals; “occupation is rarely, if ever individual in

nature” (Dickie, Cutchin & Humphry, 2006, p. 83). Instead Dickie, et al. (2006) propose a

social constructivist approach. Occupational identity is a reciprocal relationship between

‘person’, ‘occupation’ and ‘context’. This social constructivist approach sees occupational

identity as a social product based on a reciprocal interplay between culture, language, social

relationships, context, time and personality (Berger & Luckman, 1966). According to Burr

(2003) each context has a limited number of discourses from which we can develop our own

identity. For example, being a nurse at a hospital contains a certain number of discourses such as

gender (‘most nurses are female’), the tasks (‘nursing is about caring’), the organization or

institution (‘nurses are health care professionals’), or competences (‘nurses know about

medicine’). Andsager (2015) showed that such discourses can be projected through the media

reporting for example that the Danish media primarily presents women in leadership as

unfeminine or as a ‘superwomen’.

Research on occupational segregation (Bolton & Muzio, 2008; Le Feuvre, 2009; Muzio &

Tomlinson, 2012; Riska, 2008; Williams, 2013) demonstrates that gender plays a subtle yet

strong role in occupations and how we relate to different types of occupations. Ashcraft (2013)

argues that collective occupational identities and central characteristics of an occupation are

associated with the social identities of their practitioners (whether they are actual or figurative)

and are created on a societal level. Such association creates occupations that appear to be “suited

for certain people and implausible to others” (Ashcraft, 2013, p. 7-8) what Ashcraft terms

‘occupational identity by association’. Ashcraft (2005) conducted a narrative study among US

airline pilots based on 18 interviews and historical data and found that the pilots had chosen

their occupation because they identified with several of the collective characteristics of the

occupation, and once they were pilots they actively maintained those characteristics confirming

their identity. Adamson (2015) found similar results in semi-structured interviews with 26

Russian psychology counsellors. Skinner (2014) used a grounded theory approach to examine

whether executive coaching was useful to 11 women in senior roles and found that a core

Page 15: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

15

element was that the women used the coaching to form a leadership identity. Ashcraft (2013)

proposes the metaphor ‘glass slipper’ to express that occupations are associated with inherent

characteristics that seem ‘natural’ to people but that at the same time is only fit for some but not

for others. This ‘glass slipper’ approach explains why some occupations are viewed as

predominately male and others female creating advantages for those who fit the ‘glass slipper’

and disadvantages for those who do not. The ‘glass slipper’ makes a person evaluate whether he

or she fits the identity of an occupation and if the disparity between the occupation and the

person’s existing identity is too large, the identity and thus the occupation is considered to be

either unnatural, impossible to incorporate or is simply not even considered to be an option.

The evidence for the existence and relevance of occupational identity is rich and substantial, but

there is a lack of studies that address occupational identity as more than work, abilities and skills

as well as studies that address individual identity, perceived identity of a specific occupation and

its effect on motivation. The studies from Ashcraft (2005), Adamson (2015) and Skinner (2014)

are explorative and present a good foundation for the study of identity, gender and motivation in

relation to specific occupations. Although, their sample numbers are rather small and there is a

lack of quantitative representativeness. Compared with Scandinavian countries, which score

very high on the femininity dimension, all three studies were conducted in cultures that score

high on the cultural dimension of masculinity (Hofstede, 2015). Most research within

occupational identity and specific occupations is based in an Anglo-American cultural context.

There are a few exceptions such as Russia (Adamson, 2015), Spain (Killeen, Lopez-Zafra &

Eagly, 2006) and India (Naqvi, 2011). Again however, this research is based in cultures that

score high on masculinity (Hofstede, 2015) something that may well influence the social

identities associated with different occupations.

3.2 Leadership identity

Among researchers there is debate whether leadership can be viewed as an occupation of its

own. Barker (2010) states that as leadership is related to personal competencies and behaviour

and as leadership transcends trades, it is not possible to view leadership as an independent

occupation. Khurana (2007) argues that management and thus a leadership role requires skills,

knowledge and training similar to other professions and it therefore must be considered to be an

Page 16: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

16

occupation of its own. Considering the extensive number of studies on leadership roles, gender-

typing of occupations and leadership identity, Khurana’s argument seems to be the strongest.

In line with Ashcraft (2013) and Dickie et al.’s (2006) view on occupational identity, DeRue

and Ashford (2010) believes that identity construction is a product of reciprocal influences

between individual self, attributions, social environments and culture. DeRue and Ashford

(2010) criticize the literature of not sufficiently explaining why some individuals internalize a

specific occupational identity and others do not. By using leadership as example of an identity,

they propose a model of identity construction consisting of three aspects aligning individual

internalization, relational recognition and collective endorsement. A leadership identity is

constructed through a claiming-granting process in which ‘claiming’ “refers to the actions

people take to assert their identity as a leader” and granting refers to “the actions that a person

takes to bestow a leader identity onto another person” (DeRue & Ashford, 2010, p. 631).

DeRue and Ashford (2010) have primarily been concerned with organizational settings and

identity construction among adults in the workplace. However, identities develop throughout

lifespan and some change with different ages or life events such as being a teenager or being a

parent (Arnett, 2012). Komives et al (2005, 2006) and Lord, Hall and Halpin (2012) have found

that leadership identity not only develops in early adulthood or when having a formal leader

position, but that early construction of a leadership identity is often formed as early as in

childhood. Experience then either boosts or diminishes early leadership construction through

the ‘claiming-granting process’(DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Both Komives et al (2005, 2006)

and Lord, Hall and Halpin (2012) state that parents, adults and later on peers, play an important

role in the development of a leadership identity, from mentoring and role models to support and

encouragement. The more a girl gains social acceptance from parents for taking a leader role

(granting), the more likely she will be to feel comfortable with a leadership identity and

actively pursuing that path as an adult (claiming) (Karelaia & Guillen, 2011).

Several studies support the development and construction of a leadership identity from a young

age. Naqvi (2011) interviewed Indian women managers of which 60% stressed that their

parents’ support, encouragement or job level influenced their decision to pursue a management

position. Aycan (2004) studied the lack of women in top managing positions in Turkey finding

Page 17: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

17

that cultural norms influence gender stereotypes but more importantly they influence women’s

self-confidence and identity of self. Aycan’s (2004) suggestion is that support by family can

increase self-confidence and the desire to seek management positions. A survey from the

Danish union Djøf (2008) supports the findings of Aycan reporting that Danish women lack

self-confidence and often lack support from their family, which ultimately stops them from

pursuing top managing positions. Yewchuk, Äystö and Schlosser (2001) studied similarities

and barriers experienced by women in Canada and Finland, finding that support and

encouragement from parents and spouse was the most significant factor for women pursuing

top positions. A study of 25,000 Harvard Business School graduates showed that even though

women spend more time on household work and childcare compared to their partner, it is not

the children who are holding women back from pursuing top managing positions (Ely, Stone &

Ammerman, 2014), rather it is their male partner who expects that the couple will prioritize his

career over hers. Ely et al (2014) call this second-generation gender bias that subtly and often

invisibly influences the behavior of women through cultural assumptions which women

internalize. The best way to avoid this is for women to find partners below their employment or

educational level and who are less likely to prioritize their own career (Ely et al, 2014).

Although the samples of Aycan (2004) and Naqvi (2011) are very small, and the sampling of

Djøf (2008) and Yewchuk, Äystö and Schlosser (2001) cannot be easily generalized as they

draw on a very selective group of women, these findings present some interesting aspects of the

claiming process of leadership identity. Whilst the study by Ely et al (2014) obtained large

numbers of US respondents, it is unclear to what extent those findings could be generalized into

a Scandinavian context.

In DeRue and Ashford’s (DeRue, Ashford & Cotton, 2009) construction model, claiming a

leadership identity is not enough. In order to achieve a leadership identity, and a leadership

position, other people must also grant you the role either formally, informally or both. Research

shows that a leader role, and especially that of a top managing position, is primarily considered

male and that agentic traits are required if you want to be a successful leader (Eagly, 2005;

Madsen et al, 2007; Schein, 2001). In line with Ashcraft’s (2013) ‘glass slipper’ women are not

considered to the same extend as men to be potential candidates to top managing positions and

therefore not automatically granted a leadership identity. As social roles are linked to identity

in individualistic cultures (Costa, Terracciano & McCrae, 2001; Triandis, 1989), the leadership

Page 18: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

18

identity becomes even more about who leaders are – than what they do (Ely & Rhode, 2008;

Ibarra, 1999). In a related line of study Cuadrado, Garcia-Ael and Molero (2015) examined

gender-typing for managerial roles among 195 Spanish adults and found that masculine traits

are valued much more than feminine traits in a successful leader role. A surprising finding was

that male-typing of leader roles was stronger for female participants highlighting that women

viewed a stronger incongruity between a female role and a leadership role. Similarly, this

male-typing and leader roles are reported to exist in Denmark, indicating that it may be a cross-

cultural phenomenon (Madsen, Jensen, Madsen, Neergaard & Ulhøi, 2007). Both studies

support the link between occupational identity and leadership in relation to gender-typing;

although, the issue of motivation is only sparsely addressed and in the Danish study only

managers participated limiting the generalizability of the study.

Most Danish analyses of women in management and sex-roles are conducted as surveys by

trade unions or interest groups and not as part of scientific research (Bonke, 2015; Djøf, 2008;

Institut for Konjunktur-Analyse, 2006; Rennison, 2012). Most studies on leadership identity

focus on participants that are already managers but fail to include participants that are not

managers, thus limiting the generalizability of the results and many studies did not use

psychometrically standardized measures. Finally, occupational identity by association has not

previously been addressed in Danish studies and we therefore do not know whether

occupational identity by association might be a factor contributing to the fact that few women

seek top managing positions.

3.3 Identity-based motivation

The identity-based motivation model (IBM theory) assumes that people interpret present and

future situations in ways that are congruent with their current identities (Oyserman & Destin,

2010). Most people are able to imagine their future selves, but that does not mean they start

acting in ways that will lead them to their future selves (Oyserman, 2015). According to the

IBM model the reason for this is located in three aspects: 1) Psychological Relevance which

means that the future identity must seem relevant for the current situation, 2) Readiness to Act

which means that the strategies that can lead to the future identity must feel identity-congruent

with the current identity, and 3) Interpretation of Experienced Difficulty which means that if

actions, behaviours and goals feels identity-congruent, they are seen as obtainable and any

Page 19: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

19

difficulties only highlights that the behaviour is important and meaningful. If the behaviour

feels identity-incongruent it is seen as pointless and ‘not for people like me’ (Oyserman &

Destin, 2010). IBM theory is not only concerned with existing identities but also encapsulates

future and imagined identities as well as goals and attainment (Elmore & Oyserman, 2012).

Elmore and Oyserman (2012) conducted an experiment on 146 sixth graders testing the

relationship between gender-congruent identities and motivation and its influence on school

identities and school effort. They found a significant effect that supports the model and that

subtle cues linking gender and future success not only influences future goals and career

aspirations but also current effort on academic tasks. However, the study only tested children

and the results can therefore not be generalized to an adult population.

IBM theory can explain studies of stereotype threat, for example, where women are found to

perform poorly in math and science tests if their gender is subtly brought to mind (Spencer,

Steele & Quinn, 1999; Steele, Spencer & Aronson, 2002). Karelaia and Guillen (2011)

examined psychological and motivational consequences of identity conflict between gender

identity and leadership identity among 638 women in executive roles. The greater the identity

conflict, the greater stress and the lower life satisfaction the women experienced. Conversely,

the more leadership experience the women had, the more they identified with the leadership

role and the more their perceived identity conflict was reduced.

Based on 311 senior-level students, Kreuzer (1992) concluded that women who rated

themselves high on masculinity and low on femininity showed stronger leadership aspirations

compared with male students. The results also indicated that mother’s level of education was

related to leadership aspirations in women, however, Kreuzer notes that she did not use

psychometrically standardized measures for her data collection. In a similar study Karami,

Ismail and Sail (2007) used psychometrically valid scales in their examination of 100 Iranian

postgraduates in a Malaysian university, and found that both female and male students desired

a top management position, but the more masculine (for both genders) students rated

themselves to be, the more they desired to be in top management. At the same time the female

participants expected that society would not accept them in top management positions and had

only an expectation of a middle or lower managerial role. These results once again

demonstrate again the role that Hofstede’s (2015) masculinity cultural plays.

Page 20: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

20

3.4 Research question

Studies on occupational identity have primarily been focused on women that already belong to

a specific occupation and not the general population, and there are only two studies on

occupational identity by association both of which are qualitative and studies on identity-based

motivation have been conducted among children, but not adults. All studies on occupational

identity and motivation have been conducted in cultures that score high on masculinity, but

studies in cultures high on femininity may provide a different result. Many studies either have a

small number of participants or they have chosen not to use standardized tests or measures

making it more difficult to compare the findings. Based on the literature review the following

research question will direct this study:

Is occupational identity by association a factor in Danish women when considering a top

managing position?

3.5 Aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to examine the influence of occupational identity by association on the

level of motivation to pursue a top managing position among women in Denmark. As

occupational identity by association can refer to many aspects such as gender, race, age, traits,

status etc., this study will focus on the masculine and feminine traits associated with own

identity and the perceived identity of a top managing position. The objectives are:

1. To determine women’s occupational identity perception of a top managing leadership

role.

2. To examine differences and similarities between women’s occupational identity and

that of a top managing position and how these differences and similarities affect the

level of motivation to pursue a top managing position.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between motivation, personal identity

and perceived identity of a top management position. According to the literature review, own

identity and the perceived identity of a top managing position are closely related and can

equally affect the level of motivation, leading to the alternative directional hypothesis:

Page 21: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

21

H1: Own identity and the perceived identity of a top managing position both have an

interrelated mediating effect on the level of motivation to seek a top managing position.

The studies from Aycan (2004), Naqvi (2011) and Yewchuk, Äystö and Schlosser (2001)

demonstrated that job level and support from parents play a significant role in the motivation

and formation of a leadership identity for women. Two Danish studies showed that among the

elite sons often follow in the footsteps of their fathers into top managing positions more than

the daughters (Ellersgaard & Larsen, 2010; Larsen, Ellersgaard, & Bernsen, 2015). It is

therefore relevant to examine the influence of parent’s job level:

H2: Respondents with a mother or father who are in a managing position will be more

motivated to seek a top managing position.

The Djøf (2008) analysis suggests that when receiving support from their partner, Danish

women are more likely to pursue managing positions. Ely et al (2014) demonstrated strong

support for the influence of the partner’s job level on women’s career choices. Therefore, a

third alternative directional hypothesis focuses on the influence of the partner:

H3: Respondents with a partner who are in a managing position will be less motivated to seek a

top managing position.

Finally, this study aims to investigate Danish women’s perception of a top managing position

based on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory items. Several studies have shown that both men and

women attach agentic traits to that of a top managing position (Ashcraft, 2013; Brenner,

Tomkiewicz & Schein, 1989; Madsen, Jensen, Madsen, Neergaard, & Ulhøi, 2007). Similar

results are expected here leading to the fourth hypothesis:

H4: The respondents will score masculine BSRI items higher than feminine BSRI items for the

perceived identity of a top managing position.

Page 22: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

22

4 Methods

4.1 Participants

This study targeted adult Danish women between 18 and 60. The age limit was set at 60 as the

retirement age in Denmark is 65-70 leaving a span of 5-10 years for career aspirations. 1308

people answered the questionnaire. Men, women over 60, those who did not agree to the

consent form and incomplete questionnaires were removed leaving a total of n=1054.

According to the Statistics Denmark (2015) there are about 1,600,000 women in Denmark

between 18 and 60. In order to get a representative selection sample size was calculated. The

minimum sample size for this study was 384 respondents. The total sample size for this study

was n=1054 which gives a margin of error of only 3%. Compared with the data from Statistics

Denmark the sample is representative of the Danish female population between 18 to 60 years

(Statistics Denmark, 2015a). The demographic data of the participants can be viewed in

Appendix A.

The estimated mean age is 39. There is a slight underrepresentation of participants between 18

to 25 (n=75) and 56 to 60 (n=66) compared with national data, but this is not considered to

have any effect for the conclusions of this study as the majority of participants represent the

working female population. There is a disproportionately large number of participants with a

master’s degree compared to the general population (Statistics Denmark, 2015a). This may be

due to the spread of the survey via the internet which may not be as widely used among women

with vocational or short-cycle educational levels. The type of industry clearly reflects the very

gender-segregated job market in Denmark with most women in the educational (n=132) and

social/health care sectors (n=132) and public administration (n=313) (Statistics Denmark,

2015a).

4.2 Design

The research design was correlational utilizing cross-sectional survey methodology to assess

the relationship between own identity and perceived identity of a top managing position and its

influence on the level of motivation. For this study the sampling design was a mixture of

convenience sampling and snowballing. The online survey was distributed via email,

newsletter, intranet and social media to more than 6,000 potential female participants, and it

Page 23: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

23

was estimated that a response rate of 8-10% would provide the required minimum of 387

participants. The advantages of using an online survey and using Internet based channels to

reach the participants are that snowballing and convenience sampling can be more effective, it

is easier to reach a larger area geographically and a broader scope of women. A typical

disadvantage is whether the participants have access to the Internet. This was not viewed as an

obstacle in Denmark as almost 100% of the population has access to the Internet from home or

from their smart phone (Danmarks Statistik, 2014).

4.3 Measuring identity

For the purposes of this study, identity is defined according to social identity theory (Abdelal,

Herrera, Johnston & McDermott, 2009) where traits are ascribed to in-groups and out-groups

and a person will be conditioned to behave and internalize selected traits only because these

traits describe his in-group. And to role theory (Eagly, Wood & Diekman, 2000) where people

adopt the role into their own identity in order to feel role-congruent and thereby intensifies the

role (Eagly, Wood & Diekman, 2000). Adopting this view, identity can be expressed in a set of

traits or characteristics that are associated with people, situations and roles (Abdelal et al,

2009).

4.4 The Bem Sex-Role Inventory

BSRI applies a trait model to the measurement of identity. Bem (1974) developed the BSRI as

a tool to measure gender role perceptions based on masculine and feminine traits. The strength

of the BSRI is that masculinity and femininity are regarded as two independent dimensions

rather than a continuum; this allows an individual to be high on both dimensions, low on both

dimensions or high on one and low on the other (Bem, 1974). This also makes the BSRI useful

for measuring the perception of a top managing role as it allows for a broader assessment than

just being either masculine or feminine. The BSRI does not measure the actual sex of an

occupation or a person, but the self-reported perception of whether an occupation or person is

viewed as having traits that are more masculine or more feminine or both.

The validity of the inventory has been debated several times; Hoffman and Borders (2001)

delivered strong criticism of the BSRI for lack of validity and reliability, particularly when it

comes to measuring femininity and masculinity of different traits. Other researchers have

Page 24: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

24

argued that the inventory is valid as long as it is used to test gender-typing (Cuadrado, Garcia-

Ael & Molero, 2015; Gurman & Long, 1992; Holt & Ellis, 1998; Ingols & Shapiro, 2015).

Most researchers have found that the BSRI is valid across cultures when a few test items are

removed for cultural fit (Carver et al, 2013; Vafaei et al, 2014). Bem (1974) herself measured

Cronbach’s α to be .86 for the masculinity scale for men and women combined and .80 for the

femininity scale. Holt and Ellis (1998) found α to be .95 for the masculinity scale and .92 for

the femininity scale. Persson’s (1999) adapted BSRI-SE showed a Cronbach’s α to be .82 for

the masculinity scale and .81 for the femininity scale. In recent years the BSRI have been used

to study which traits people associate with leadership roles and leader identities (Cuadrado,

Garcia-Ael & Molero, 2015; Grinnell, 2002; Ingols & Shapiro, 2015).

The full version of the BSRI test consists of 60 items (Bem, 1974). The test was developed in

an American context and is mostly used in its original language, English. Persson (1999)

translated the 60 items into Swedish and conducted t-tests and a factor analysis based on 118

participants. He found that 25 items could be translated and used in a Swedish cultural context.

The remaining 35 items were not similarly understood in a Swedish context. The study showed

high reliability and psychometric properties in the revised and adapted BSRI-SE version,

however, as Persson (1999) points out the BSRI-SE only accounts for 41.4% of total variance

so further studies and greater samples are needed. Nevertheless, Persson’s study provides a

useful tool for this study as not only has the BSRI items been translated into a language that is

very close to Danish, the items have been tested in a culture that shares many similarities with

the Danish culture. According to Hofstede (Daun, 1996; Hofstede, 1984) Denmark and Sweden

have very equal scores on the dimensions of femininity, individualism and power distance

making it possible to transfer the BSRI-SE to a Danish context. Participants responded to the

BSRI-SE items using a 7-point Likert scale with endpoints ranging from 1 (never or almost

never true) to 7 (always or almost always true). The BSRI-SE Likert scale was measured as

intervals.

4.5 Career Aspiration Scale Revised

CAS-R has proven to be a valid and reliable tool when dealing with occupational aspirations

and career desires (Gray & O’Brian, 2007; Gregor & O’Brian, 2015; Kim, 2014). Factor

analyses have shown that the Achievement and Leadership aspiration subscales create reliable

Page 25: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

25

results with Cronbach’s α between .72 to .82 (Gray & O’Brian, 2007) and a Cronbach’s α of

.86 when using 5 statements instead of the original 8 statements (Kim, 2014).

The CAS was originally developed to assess women’s career aspirations (O’Brian, 1996) and it

has since been revised in order to improve its psychometric properties. The CAS-R covers three

subscales: Achievement aspirations, Leadership aspirations and Educational aspiration (Gray &

O’Brian, 2007; Kim, 2014). The CAS-R Leadership aspirations subscale consists of 8 items

measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Gray and O’Brian (2007) and Kim (2014) found that 5

statements in particular account for high test-retest reliability. For statistical reasons the scale is

treated as an interval similar to the BSRI-SE, which makes correlation between the scales

possible. The CAS-R measures career aspirations to leadership positions in general. As this

study focuses on top management levels, the 5 statements were adapted to reflect aspirations to

top managing positions. Participants responded to the CAS-R statements using a 5-point Likert

scale with endpoints ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

4.6 The questionnaire

The questionnaire consisted of six sections (see Appendix B). Section one included information

about age, level of education, employment status, type of industry, marital status and number of

children. Section two included the 25 BSRI-SE items measuring the identity of the respondent.

Section three included the 5 statements from the CAS-R as well as two questions measuring the

respondent’s interest in management positions in general. Section four included information

about the level of education and employment status of parents and partner. Section five

included the 25 BSRI-SE items measuring the perceived identity of a top managing position.

Section six included an open question about the respondent’s opinion on the

underrepresentation of women in senior management in Denmark. The respondents were asked

to consider a top managing position and score the BSRI-SE items based on their perception. To

make sure that the respondents understood what was meant by the expression ‘top managing

position’, a definition was provided in the questionnaire.

4.7 Data analysis guide

Given the complexity of the analyses to follow, this section is provided to signpost the reader.

Page 26: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

26

As the research question and H1 concern motivation and identity, these are variables than

cannot be directly measured or observed, so-called latent variables. Instead they are measured

by a number of indicators such as the CAS-R and BSRI-SE. In Structural Equation Modelling

(SEM) it is possible to work with latent variables (Byrne, 2001). SEM also allows examination

of the relationship between several dependent and independent variables, including moderating

variables that may influence the dependent variables. SEM is therefore suited as statistical

method for this study. The SEM analysis was based on the theoretical foundation of the

literature review as to which factors may affect the variables identity and motivation. The SEM

model consists of a measurement model and a structural model. The measurement model tests

the measurement items of the latent variables and the structural model maps the relationships

between the latent variables. Maximum Likelihood estimation was used to test the hypothesised

model. The dependent variable for the hypothesised model was Motivation (MOT) (see Figure

1). Construct validity and construct reliability was measured using Average Variance

Extracted, Construct Reliability (CR) and Cronbach’s α.

To examine H2 a two-way between-groups ANOVA was performed to examine the influence

of parent’s job on the level of motivation to pursue a top managing position. For H3

independent t-test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference

between the means in two unrelated groups: participants with a partner in a top managing

position versus participants with a partner not in top management. Any differences between the

two groups would show up as a difference between the mean levels of motivation. To examine

H4 the participants were asked to rate the 25 BSRI-SE items according to their perception of a

top managing position. Descriptive analysis would show how the participants have scored the

masculine or feminine items.

Finally, a short thematic analysis was conducted to examine the open question in section six of

the questionnaire. The results of the thematic analysis would show if identity is an expressed

issue among the respondents.

Page 27: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

27

OWNID: Own identity

TOPID: Perceived identity of a top managing position

MOT: Level of motivation

OWN1: Statement / item 1 (see Appendix B for full list of statements / items)

TOP1: Statement / item 1 (see Appendix B for full list of statements / items)

Q1: Question 1 (see Appendix B for complete list of the five questions)

E: Measurement error of measurable items

D: Measurement error of latent variables

Figure 1- Hypothesized structural model

Page 28: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

28

5 Analysis

5.1 Hypotheses testing

As predicted in H4 the mean score for the masculine items combined (M=5.98, SD=.64) is

much higher than the mean score for the feminine items combined (M=4.23, SD=.98) when it

comes to the perceived identity of a top managing position. The standard deviations are

generally small among the masculine items compared to the feminine items indicating that the

perception of a top managing position among Danish women is more or less uniform when it

comes to the masculine traits (see Table 1). When it comes to scoring their own identity, the

mean for the feminine traits are generally higher than for the perception of a top managing

perception. The mean and standard deviation for the feminine (M=5.19, SD=.81) and masculine

(M=5.13, SD=.86) traits is much more equal when scoring own identity than when scoring the

perceived identity of a top managing position. This indicates that Danish women view

themselves as having both masculine and feminine traits in equal measures which is in strong

contrast to their very one-sided perception of a top managing position.

Table 1 - 25 BSRI-SE items for the perceived identity of a top managing position and for own identity

N=1054 Perceived identity of top

managing position Own identity

M SD M SD

Masculine items

Self-reliant 6.17 1.02 5.19 1.23

Defends own beliefs 6.12 1.06 5.67 1.12

Assertive 6.34 .89 5.22 1.23

Strong personality 6.25 .99 5.65 1.67

Forceful 6.04 1.08 5.56 1.22

Has leadership abilities 6.51 .91 5.21 1.52

Willing to take risks 6.19 1.00 5.03 1.34

Makes decisions easily 5.85 1.12 5.07 1.42

Self-sufficient 5.61 1.35 5.25 1.35

Dominant 5.10 1.48 4.53 1.49

Masculine 4.33 1.59 3.26 1.54

Willing to take a stand 6.55 .82 5.85 1.10

Act as a leader 6.63 .80 5.17 1.57

Feminine items

Affectionate 3.79 1.34 5.58 1.22

Loyal 5.59 1.41 6.01 1.02

Page 29: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

29

Feminine 3.61 1.33 5.06 1.32

Sympathetic 5.22 1.43 5.72 1.03

Sensitive to the needs of others 4.85 1.47 5.67 1.12

Understanding 3.80 1.43 4.56 1.27

Compassionate 4.39 1.41 5.64 1.15

Eager to sooth hurt feelings 3.19 1.44 4.54 1.43

Soft spoken 4.79 1.43 4.50 1.57

Warm 4.28 1.45 5.73 1.17

Tender 4.39 1.38 5.42 1.16

Gentle 2.89 1.34 3.84 1.50

To test the influence of having a mother or father in a top managing position on the level of

motivation to pursue a top managing position, a two-way between-groups ANOVA was

conducted. None of the variables had skewness or kutosis levels above one, which suggests

normality. A 2x2 ANOVA with father’s job level (top job, no top job) and mother’s job level

(top job, no top job) as between-groups factors revealed no main effect for father’s job level,

F(1, 1050) = .26, p=.61, or mother’s job level, F(1,1050) = .30, p=.59. There was also no

interaction effect, F(1, 1050) = .05, p=.83. This suggests that there is no statistically significant

influence of either mother’s or father’s job level of the level of motivation to pursue a top

managing position among Danish women. H2 can therefore be rejected.

An independent t-test was performed for H3. Normality test showed that assumptions were met.

The analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference between participants

with a partner in a top managing positions (M=3.30, SD=1.13) and participants with no partner

or a partner not in a top managing position (M=2.89, SD=1.20), t(1052) 2.31, p=.01. Scatter and

box plots show that the relationship between the two variables (partner’s job level and

motivation score) is positive. This suggest that, contrary to the expected outcome in H3, having

a partner who has a top managing position has a positive influence on Danish women’s

motivation to pursue a top managing position. The null hypothesis can therefore be rejected.

The effect size was found to be small with Cohen’s d=0.35 and Hedges’ g=0.34.

Page 30: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

30

5.2 Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)

As the labour market in Denmark is highly gender-segregated (Bloksgaard, 2011; Statistics

Denmark, 2015), type of industry may act as a moderating factor in the SEM analysis. A one-

way ANOVA was conducted to test whether type of industry was significant. Type of industry

consisted of 27 categories. These categories were coded into three groups: High masculine

(industries with a majority of male employees), Medium masculine (industries with no gender

majority) and Low masculine (industries with a majority of female employees). There was a

statistically significant difference between the three groups in terms of the level of motivation

scores, F(2,1051) = 33.28, p=000. A Tukey post-hoc test revealed that motivation scores were

significantly lower among women in female dominated industries (M=2.65, SD=1.15)

compared to women in male dominated industries (M=3.27, SD=1.16) or women in non-

gendered industries (M=3.23, SD=1.20). There was no statistically significant difference

between High and Medium industry groups (p=.952). Effect size showed medium effect

(ή2=.06).

Prior to estimating the structural model, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to

test the model fit of the measurement model. Five latent variables were included in the

measurement model. Motivation (MOT) was represented by 5 items, Own identity was divided

into masculine and feminine items with OWNID_MAS represented by 13 items,

OWNID_FEM represented by 12 items. The perceived identity of a top managing position was

equally divided into two latent variables of feminine and masculine variables with

TOPID_MAS represented by 13 items and TOPID_FEM represented by 12 items. Assessment

of normality showed that 3 items (Leadership abilities, Willing to take a stand, Act as a leader)

had severe skewness. Due to the skewness of the data, Bollen-Stine bootstrapping was used in

the CFA with 2000 bootstraps.

Convergent validity was examined to ensure that the items only loaded to their specific latent

variable. Standardized regression weights showed that 3 items on the latent variable

TOPID_MAS, 3 items on the variable TOPID_FEM, 1 item on the variable OWNID_MAS and

4 items on the variable OWNID_FEM were below cut-off point (see Table 2). These items

were therefore deleted from the model. The Modification Indices suggested a number of error

covariance paths to improve model fit. According to Harrington (2009) measurement error may

Page 31: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

31

be caused by method effect such as self-reported methods using Likert scales and be the result

of highly similar meaning or close to the meanings of words and phrases which is both the case

for this study. Fontayne, Sarrazin and Famose (2000) found that there was high correlation

between certain items when adapting the BSRI for use among French teenagers. Bianchard-

Fields, Suhrer-Roussel and Hetzog (1994) also found several items to be correlated, especially

when perceived as personality traits rather than specific traits for masculinity and femininity,

which is the case for this study. The suggested error covariance paths were therefore included

in the model. The result was a good fit for the measurement model (see Table 3).

Table 2 - Standardized regression weights – factor loadings of items and error variances

TOPID_MASCULINE Item Factor loading Error variance

TOPID_1 0,65 0,43

TOPID_3 0,54 0,29

TOPID_4 0,70 0,49

TOPID_6 0,62 0,39

TOPID_9 0,58 0,34

TOPID_10 0,64 0,41

TOPID_13 0,58 0,34

TOPID_16 0,54 0,29

TOPID_17 0,45 0,20

TOPID_19 0,33 0,11

TOPID_20 0,20 0,04

TOPID_23 0,70 0,49

TOPID_24 0,67 0,45

TOPID_FEMININE

TOPID_2 0,73 0,53

TOPID_5 0,48 0,23

TOPID_7 0,72 0,51

TOPID_8 0,87 0,76

TOPID_11 0,87 0,75

TOPID_12 0,80 0,65

TOPID_14 0,73 0,53

TOPID_15 0,64 0,41

TOPID_18 0,50 0,24

TOPID_21 0,78 0,61

TOPID_22 0,64 0,41

TOPID_25 0,21 0,04

OWNID_MASCULINE

OWNID_24 0,79 0,62

OWNID_23 0,69 0,47

Page 32: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

32

OWNID_20 0,24 0,06

OWNID_19 0,58 0,34

OWNID_17 0,51 0,26

OWNID_16 0,59 0,35

OWNID_13 0,56 0,32

OWNID_10 0,77 0,59

OWNID_9 0,54 0,29

OWNID_6 0,69 0,47

OWNID_4 0,73 0,53

OWNID_3 0,56 0,32

OWNID_1 0,69 0,48

OWNID_FEMININE

OWNID_25 0,33 0,11

OWNID_22 0,59 0,34

OWNID_21 0,72 0,52

OWNID_18 0,44 0,19

OWNID_15 0,48 0,23

OWNID_14 0,59 0,34

OWNID_12 0,81 0,65

OWNID_11 0,82 0,67

OWNID_8 0,83 0,69

OWNID_7 0,69 0,47

OWNID_5 0,35 0,13

OWNID_2 0,71 0,51

MOTIVATION

CAS_1 0,90 0,72

CAS_2 0,87 0,82

CAS_3 0,91 0,76

CAS_4 0,92 0,85

CAS_5 0,59 0,35

Table 3 - Model fit

Model fit

X2 df p X

2 / df CFI RMSEA SRMR

Initial model fit

7804

1420

.000

5.49

.79

.06

.07

Model fit after Modification Indices

4997

892

.000

5.60

.84

.06

.06

Final model fit

3248

874

.000

3.71

.91

.05

.06

Page 33: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

33

To further test the robustness of the measurement model, we conducted internal reliability

(Cronbach’s alpha), construct reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) analyses

following Hair et al (2010). Overall, the results indicate sufficient construct reliability and

discriminant validity of the five latent constructs (Table 4).

Table 4 - Measurement properties for study constructs

Constructs

Cronbach’s alpha

CR

AVE

TOPID_MASCULINE .87 .91 .39 TOPID_FEMININE .92 .90 .57 OWNID_MASCULINE .92 .92 .42 OWNID_FEMININE .89 .89 .52 MOTIVATION .92 .83 .70

5.3 Structural model

The means, standard deviations and correlations for all study variables are reported in Table 5.

The correlations indicate significant and positive relationships between all variables in the

model (Figure 2), as expected.

Table 5 - Means, standard deviations and correlations between variables

M

SD TOPID_MAS TOPID_FEM OWNID_MAS OWNID_FEM MOT

TOPID_MAS 5.98 .64 1 .04 .14 .06 .04 TOPID_FEM 4.23 .98 .19 1 .05 .08 .02 OWNID_MAS 5.13 .86 .37 .22 1 .01 .21 OWNID_FEM 5.19 .81 .25 .28 .10 1 .01 MOTIVATION 2.92 1.20 .02 .13 .46 -.07 1

N = 1054 Correlation significant p=<.01 NB: Values under the diagonal shows the correlations between the variables. Values above the diagonal shows the squared correlations

Page 34: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

34

Figure 2 - Hypothesized model

Own identity and perceived identity of a top managing position can both act as a mediating

factor on the motivation score. First, the model fit was examined with TOPID as mediating

factor which resulted in good model fit indicating that the theoretical model is able to explain

the correlations in a satisfactory way (Table 6). Then, the model was examined with OWNID

as mediating factor providing an identical model fit. Since the number of degrees of freedom is

equal in both models, Kelloway (1998) and Byrne (1998) recommend choosing the model with

the lowest X2 value. As identity may also have a direct influence on the level of motivation, a

third alternative model was tested: the direct effects model with no meditating factors. This

model showed poor model fit. H1 can therefore not be rejected, and the hypothesized model

with OWNID as mediating factor is the best-fitting structural model (see Figure 3).

Table 6 - Model fit for the hypothesized structural model and alternative models

Model

X2

df

X2/df

RMSEA

CFI

SRMR

TOPID as mediating factor

3251 875 3.71 .05 .91 .06

OWNID as mediating factor

3249 875 3.71 .05 .91 .06

Direct effects model – no mediation

3483 878 3.96 .05 .90 .10

Page 35: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

35

Figure 3 - Final structural model with OWNID (MAS and FEM) as mediating factor

Since the structural model shows good fit, it has been used as basis of evaluation of H1. The

result showed that TOPID_FEM and OWNID_MAS have a significant positive impact on

MOT whereas TOPID_MAS and OWNID_FEM have a significant negative impact on MOT.

The result also indicated that TOPID_MAS and TOPID_FEM have a significant positive

impact on OWNID_MAS and OWNID_FEM. Bootstrapping was used to assess the mediation

effect of OWNID_MAS and OWNID_FEM on the relationship between TOPID_MAS,

TOPID_FEM and MOT. A total of 2,000 bootstrap samples were generated for test with

mediation. Bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals were examined for evidence of mediation.

Result indicated that there were significant indirect effects from both TOPID_MAS and

TOPID_FEM to MOT. Result indicated that OWNID_MAS and OWNID_FEM fully mediated

the relationship between TOPID_MAS and MOT, and that OWNID_MAS and OWNID_FEM

partially mediated the relationship between TOPID_FEM and MOT. H1 can therefore be

accepted.

5.4 Mediated moderation

As the one-way ANOVA test showed significant effect of type of industry, it was used as

moderator. Bootstrap analysis revealed differences between all three groups in type of industry

(see Table 7) and that moderation occurs in all paths between TOPID and MOT. Identity as a

Page 36: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

36

factor influencing the level of motivation to pursue a top managing position is therefore

affected by the type of industry that the participant is working in. Low masculine industries are

mediated by own identity in all paths.

Table 7 - Moderated mediation with bootstrapping – Type of industry

Relationship One mediator

Direct beta without mediator

Direct beta with mediator

Indirect beta Mediation

TOPID_MAS - OWNID_MAS – MOT

High masculine -.201 (.026) -.306 (.000) .105 No mediation

Medium masculine .058 (.366) -.131 (.034) .001 Full mediation

Low masculine .021 (.666) -.134 (.007) .001 Full mediation

TOPID_MAS - OWNID_FEM - MOT

High masculine -.201 (.026) -.301 (.000) .048 Full mediation

Medium masculine .058 (.366) -.102 (.068) .890 No mediation

Low masculine .021 (.666) -.102 (.026) .014 Full mediation

TOPID_FEM - OWNID_MAS - MOT

High masculine .343 (.000) .171 (.049) .001 Partial mediation

Medium masculine .145 (.014) .152 (.003) .391 No mediation

Low masculine .097 (.034) .032 (.456) .001 Partial mediation

TOPID_FEM - OWNID_FEM – MOT

High masculine .343 (.000) .192 (.023) .069 No mediation

Medium masculine .145 (.014) .165 (.003) .016 Full mediation

Low masculine .097 (.034) .047 (.276) .015 Partial mediation

Relationship

Two mediators Direct beta without

mediators Direct beta with

mediators Indirect beta Mediation

TOPID_MAS

High masculine -.201 (.026) -.317 (.000) .037 Full mediation

Medium masculine .058 (.366) -.131 (.034) .001 Full mediation

Low masculine .021 (.666) -.133 (.011) .001 Full mediation

TOPID_FEM

High masculine .343 (.000) .163 (.062) .001 Partial mediation

Medium masculine .145 (.014) .159 (.004) .723 No mediation

Low masculine .097 (.034) .033 (.453) .025 Partial mediation

5.6 Thematic analysis

In section six of the questionnaire respondents had the option of providing their own

suggestions as to why they think Danish women are underrepresented in top managing

positions. 818 respondents provided answers to the question. The answers are partly based on

the respondent’s reflections, partly their on own experiences. Most of the respondents provided

Page 37: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

37

several reasons in their answer. The open question was included to examine whether identity

would show up as a conscious issue.

Thematic networks method (Attride-Stirling, 2001) was chosen as the most appropriate

technique to structure the data. Based on the qualitative answers, 150 Basic Themes were

derived and formulated into sentences. The basic themes were then grouped according to

content into 27 Organising Themes, and finally, 9 Global Themes were derived based on the

basic and organising themes (see Table 8). The analysis showed that identity and occupational

identity was expressed specifically as an issue. Directly in line with Ashcraft’s theory of

occupational identity by association, two respondents describe the issue of identity:

Respondent 1: Storytelling about top managing positions is always about masculine values,

male gender and grey suits. But women cannot identify with this story. We need

to include women in that storytelling if we want more women in top managing

positions.

Respondent 2: Women are very ambitious when it comes to roles that they can identify with

such as being a specialist in their field, being a mother, having a certain hobby,

and so on. But a top managing position is so very masculine and women cannot

identify with that so they choose to do something else.

Table 8 - Thematic analysis

Global Themes Organising Themes

Gender roles Upbringing

View of men and women

Society and law

Discrimination

Regulations of maternity leave

Welfare system

Pay gap between men and women

Gender segregated job market

Skills and requirements Education

Work load

Identity Perceived identity of a top managing

position

Role models

Role models generally

Educational system

The media

Family and social expectations

Priority of family

Mother role

Support from family

Career aspirations

Price of management

Power

Career choices

Page 38: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

38

Corporate structures

Corporate culture

Recruitment processes

Networking

Masculine values

Psychological traits and behavior

Self-esteem and self-confidence

Desire

Encouragement

Own expectations

Page 39: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

39

6 Conclusion

6.1 Perceived identity of a top managing position

Hypothesis 4 stated that masculine traits would be scored higher than feminine traits for the

perceived identity of a top managing position, which was supported by the descriptive

statistics. Mirroring previous studies from other countries (e.g. Davidson & Burke, 2000;

Eagly, 2005; Garcia-Ael & Molero, 2015; Schein, 2001), the descriptive univariate analysis

shows that Danish women primarily attach masculine traits to their perceived identity of a top

managing position whereas the women’s own identity perception is much more diverse and

includes masculine and feminine traits equally. This indicates that there is a strong collective

identity perception of a top managing position that differ from the own identity of the

respondents supporting Ashcraft’s theory of the glass slipper effect. The reason for this may be

found in the cultural moderation hypothesis (Cuddy et al, 2015) suggesting that core cultural

values are more often ascribed to men in that culture than to women. As Denmark scores high

on Hofstede’s (2015) individualism dimension, individualistic traits such as assertive,

leadership abilities, being self-reliant and forceful are ascribed to positions of power, influence

and high status such as a top managing position and thus becomes viewed as suitable for men

rather than women (Cuddy et al, 2015). Costa, Terracciano and McCrae (2001) found that

gender stereotypes are more pronounced in individualistic cultures and that gender is more

often seen as a trait of its own rather than just a biological factor. Another explanation can be

found in a study by examining how Danish female business leaders are presented in the media.

We know that the Danish media primarily projects women in leadership roles as unfeminine

and as ‘special’ presenting them as either ‘superwomen’ being both a full-time mother and a

full-time top manager or as ‘business men’ expressing only masculine traits (Andsager, 2015).

The media therefore sustains a perceived identity of a top managing position that is either in

conflict with the identity of most women or a role that seems impossible to achieve and identify

with for the majority of women. This explanation is supported by the thematic analysis reported

here where many respondents point to the issue that in Denmark there are clear expectations to

a mother role and to a leader role and that Danish culture does not allow both to coexist; as a

woman you have to choose and if you choose the leader role and are also a mother, you are

forced to defend, explain and excuse your choice. The respondents point to the lack of

obtainable role models that does not portray women in top management as either ‘men’ or

Page 40: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

40

‘superwomen’. The respondents also criticize the Danish media for being very conservative in

their outlook on women in top managing positions:

Respondent 3: The Danish media still asks female top managers about their laundry, shopping,

and household chores, and how they find the time to take care of their family.

But the media never ask the men the same questions. Foreign media no longer

ask those stupid questions; the Danish media are old-fashioned and stock in

conservative gender views.

6.2 Job level of parents and partner

Contrary to the findings of Kreuzer (1992), the ANOVA analysis reported here shows that the

job level of mother and father has no influence on the motivation to pursue top managing

positions among Danish women. Other studies (e.g. Aycan, 2004; Djøf, 2008; Komives et al,

2005, 2006; Naqvi, 2011; Yewchuk, Äystö & Schlosser, 2001) have showed that

encouragement and support is the overall important factor to induce motivation for leadership

positions. In Denmark the job level of parents may still influence the identity of women, but

may not affect their level of motivation directly. Instead encouragement and support from

parents may influence self-esteem and self-confidence, which can lead to increased motivation.

Women expressed that they believe that women in general lack self-esteem to go for a top

managing position which may deter them from pursuing such career paths. It is outside the

scope of these results to examine how self-esteem and self-confidence influence motivation but

future research should address the relationship between masculine and feminine traits, self-

esteem, parent support and motivation as part of occupational identity by association.

Hypothesis 3 stated that women would be less motivated if their partner had a top managing

position. Contrary to the study by Ely et al (2014), this hypothesis was not supported by the t-

test as Danish women with a partner in top management are actually more motivated to pursue

a top managing position than those women without a partner or a partner in a lower position.

The different findings of the two studies may not be contradicting as it may simply be due to

cultural differences between the US and Denmark. As identity formation continues throughout

life (Schwarts, Luycks & Vignoles, 2011) having a partner in a top managing position may act

Page 41: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

41

as a role model. Both men and women hold and express masculine and feminine traits (Bem,

1974; Cuddy et al, 2015; Ingols & Shapiro, 2015; Persson, 1999), but when a top managing

position is portrayed culturally and in the media as consisting of only masculine traits it creates

a very one-sided identity. However, women who have a partner in top management are able to

view first-hand a person in a very masculine role but that very likely expresses both masculine

and feminine traits and thus these women are able to identify with a more obtainable role

model. The Boston Consulting Group (Poulsen, Brackert, Skov & Nielsen, 2016) examined

gender diversity in Danish top management and found that women lack relatable and

obtainable role models. Most importantly the role models have nothing to do with gender but

are more concerned with masculine and feminine traits; that is, women seek a greater diversity

of the top managing role, as well as role models that paves the way for combining family and

work regardless of gender. This request for role models that focus on traits and qualifications

instead of gender is also put forward by many of the respondents in this survey, primarily in the

form of public, peer-related or organisational role models, and that these role models need to be

visible in the media and throughout the educational system in order to influence the choices of

girls and women. To increase the number of women in top management the field could benefit

from studies that examine differences in results when using mentors versus role models and

also how different types of role models may affect women in different types of industries.

6.3 Occupational identity by association as a factor

SEM supports H1 that own identity and the perceived identity of a top managing position are

interrelated as both can act as mediating factors on the level of motivation. The analysis shows

that own identity is the strongest mediator for motivation. Although SEM does not measure

causality as such the model does indicate possible causal relationships based on a number of

regression analyses. For this study the model indicates that there is a causal relationship

between identity as a factor and the level of motivation which is in line with the theory on

occupational identity by association (Ashcraft, 2013); the greater congruence between own

identity and perceived top manager identity the more motivated a person is to pursue a top

managing position.

Mediated moderation showed that the mediated effect of own identity differ depending on the

type of industry in which the women work. There is more often no mediating effect among

Page 42: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

42

women who are working in industries that are male-dominated or gender-equal, whereas the

mediation effect exists in all paths for women in female-dominated industries. The explanation

for this may be two-fold. Women who choose to work in male-dominated industries or

industries with equal number of men and women may view themselves as more masculine and

thus actively choose to work in these industries because they identify more with the masculine

traits associated with these industries. These women may therefore also be more able to identity

with a perceived identity of a senior position as they score high on the same masculine traits.

Their own identity therefore no longer acts as a mediating factor. In a study by Long (1989)

women who saw themselves as more masculine experienced less strain and were coping more

effectively in masculine occupations.

Women who work in male-dominated or gender-equal industries may be more exposed to

relatable and obtainable role models because they work closely with male colleagues or are

able to experience both masculine and feminine traits among male and female colleagues and

middle managers thus creating an environment where the women are better able to identity with

a masculine role such as a top managing position (Sealy & Singh, 2009). Both explanations

point to the highly gender-segregated labour market in Denmark as a possible barrier that

increases the incongruence between own identity and the perceived identity of a top managing

position in women. This is supported by findings from Germany (Arntz & Bonin, 2010) where

women from former East-Germany migrated into male-dominated industries when Germany

was united inspiring West-German women to pursue careers in male-dominated industries.

According to the Grant Thornton report (2013) current and former Communist countries fare

much better in getting women into top managing positions which might be due to their

Communist past where women were promoted into all industries as all citizens were considered

equal workers first and men and women second (Saab, 2014).

6.4 Limitations and future studies

The strength of this study is that this is the first attempt to measure occupational identity by

association which up till now only has been studied in qualitative interviews (Adamson, 2015;

Ashcraft, 2013). Occupational identity by association in the study reported here focused on

measuring masculine and feminine traits. Another strength is the large number of respondents

which provides a solid foundation to make conclusions about the research question and

Page 43: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

43

hypotheses. A third strength is the use of the BSRI-SE as instrument as it measures feminine

and masculine traits regardless of gender (Persson, 1999). Bem (1974) explains that the

feminine and masculine traits can be expressed by both men and women and therefore are not

concerned with the biological gender of the person but rather perception and behaviour. As a

top managing position can be occupied by both men and women, using the BSRI-SE does not

direct the answers towards a specific biological gender. Instead it allows for the occupation to

be directed by masculine and feminine traits alike.

This study is an attempt to examine differences and similarities between own identity and the

perceived identity of a top managing position and how they affect motivation to pursue a top

managing position. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first of its kind study examining

occupational identity by association in Denmark as well as using a quantitative research design.

It is therefore limited by a number of factors. More quantitative studies on occupational identity

by association are needed to explore the broad scope of identity including aspects such as social

status, media images and socio-economic factors and could benefit from a combination with an

Implicit Attitudes Test to examine stereotypes. This study only examined the perceptions of

women. Conducting a similar study on men would provide the option of comparison across

gender.

As Ashcraft (2013) points out, the role of the media can be important in the creation of

occupational identity by association. There is a need for further examination of the influence

and role of the media in creating the perception of a top managing position. Likewise, future

studies could benefit from looking at how the media images influence women’s self-esteem and

self-confidence and their motivation to pursue top managing career paths. For the study

reported here a t-test was used to examine the influence of partner’s job level. However, t-tests

only show a relationship, not causality. Having a partner in top management may lead to

increased motivation, but it can also be that women who are already motivated for top

managing positions are choosing a partner who is in top management.

The SEM analysis only examined two mediating factors, own identity and the perceived

identity of a top managing position. But often there are more coexisting mediating factors

influencing the dependent variable. As this study has shown that identity is a factor among

Page 44: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

44

Danish women and that it influences their motivation to pursue a top managing position, future

studies could benefit from including other mediating and moderating factors such as

networking behaviour, indirect and direct discrimination in recruitment and family factors

combined to better understand why there is a lack of women in top management in Denmark.

6.5 Conclusion and practical implications

The purpose of this study was to examine whether ‘the glass slipper effect’ is a factor among

Danish women when considering a top managing position and the answer is, yes. Occupational

identity by association should therefore be included as a factor in future studies to get a better

understanding of the motivation and choices of women and top management. The knowledge of

‘the glass slipper effect’ can be used to attract more women into male-dominated industries and

men into female-dominated industries by considering how candidates are recruited, the

language in job adverts and promotion of role models of both genders with more focus on both

masculine and feminine traits.

There is a need for having less focus on gender as a trait as it may become a barrier on its own.

At present there seems to be a ‘fix the woman’ perspective in which the woman is somehow

faulty is she does not measure up to the identity of a top managing role and thus needs to be

‘fixed’. By changing the focus from gender as a trait to masculine and feminine traits and an

awareness of whether certain qualifications are actually indirect masculine traits rather than

what is required for the position, the ‘fix the woman’ perspective can be diminished (Chesler,

2009).

Schools, educational institutions, large organisations, trade unions and the media have a very

important role in promoting more diverse role models and not just use a woman as role model

thinking she automatically appeals to other women. In addition to more diverse role models

there is a need to provide more factual information about a top managing role, about the tasks,

the number of working hours, the flexibility and freedom to administer your own work

schedule. By providing more factual information and having more diverse role models can

reduce the very one-sided perception of a top managing position and thus make the role seem

more obtainable for women.

Page 45: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

45

References

Abdelal, R., Herrera, Y.M., Johnston, A.I. & McDermott, R. (Eds.) (2009).

Measuring Identity: A guide for social scientists. New York, NY, Cambridge

University Press

Adamson, M. (2015). The making of a glass slipper: Exploring patterns of inclusion and

exclusion in a feminized profession. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An

International Journal, 34 (3), pp. 214-226

Andsager, E.S.F. (2015). Kvindelige ledere - En diskursteoretisk analyse af udvalgte

artikler i danske medier. Speciale. Department of Business Administration,

Aarhus Universitet, Danmark

Armstrong, C., Flood, P.C., Guthrie, J.P., Liu, W., MacCurtain, S. & Mkamwa, T.

(2010). The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance:

beyond high performance work systems. Human Resource Management, 49(6), pp. 977-

998

Arnett, J.J. (2012). Human Development. A cultural approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ,

Pearson Education Inc.

Arntz, M. Bonin, H. (2010). Can role models enhance gender equality on the labour market?

Evidence from the post-unification migration experiment. Conference paper. The Open

Access Publication Server of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Ashcraft, K. L. (2005). Resistance through consent? Occupational identity,

organizational form, and the maintenance of masculinity among commercial

airline pilots. Management Communication Quarterly, 19, pp. 67-90

Ashcraft, K.L. (2013). The glass slipper: Incorporating occupational identity in management

studies. Academy of Management Review, 38 (1), pp. 6-31

Aycan, Z. (2004). Key success factors for women in management in Turkey. Applied

Psychology: An International Review, 53(3), pp. 453-477

Barker, R. (2010). The big idea: No, management is not a profession. Harvard Business

Review, July-August 2010

Bem, S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and

Clinical Psychology, 42, pp. 155-162

Berger, P.L. & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. A treatise in the

sociology of knowledge. New York, NY: Anchor Books

Page 46: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

46

Bianchard-Fields, F., Suhrer-Roussel, L. & Hertzog, C. (1994). A Confirmatory Factor

Analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory: Old Questions, New Answers. Sex Roles,

30(5/6), pp. 423-457

Bloksgaard, L. (2011). Masculinities, Femininities and work – The horizontal gender

segregation in the Danish labour market. Nordic Journal of working life studies. 1(2),

pp. 5-21

Boatwright, K.J. & Egidio, R.K. (2003). Psychological predictors of college women’s

leadership aspirations. Journal of College Student Development, 44 (5), pp. 653-669

Bolton, S. & Muzio, D. (2008). The paradoxical processes of feminizaton in the professions:

the case of established, aspiring and semi-professions. Work, Employment & Society, 22

(2), pp. 281-299

Bonke, J. (2015). Karrierekvinder og –mænd. Hvem er de? Og hvor travlt har de?.

Arbejdspapir nr 35. Rockwool Fondens Forskningsenhed

Brenner, O. C.,Tomkiewicz, J.,& Schein, V. E. (1989). The relationship between sex-role

stereotypes and requisite management characteristics - Revisited. Academy of

Management Review, 32, pp. 662-669

Burr, V. (2003). Social constructionism (2nd

edition). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor &

Francis Group

Byrne, B.M. (1998). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and

SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Byrne, B.M. (2001). Structural Equation Modeling With AMOS – Basic Concepts,

Applications, and Programming. (1st ed.). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Publishers

Carver, L.F., Vafaei, A., Guerra, R., Freire, A. & Phillips, S.P. (2013). Gender differences:

Examination of the 12-item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI-12) in an older Brazilian

population. PLoS One, 8 (10)

Chesler, P. (2009). Women’s Inhumanity to Women. Lawrence Hill Books

Christiansen, C.H. (1999). Defining lives: Occupation as identity: An essay on competence,

coherence and the creation of meaning. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 53,

pp. 547-558

Christiansen, C.H. (2000). Identity, personal projects and happiness: Self-construction in

everyday action. Journal of Occupational Science, 7, pp. 98-107

Costa, P.T., Terracciano, A. & McCrae, R.R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits

across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 81(2), 322-331

Page 47: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

47

Credit Suisse (2014). The CS Gender 3000: Women in Senior Management. Credit Suisse

Research Institute

Cuadrado, I, Garcia-Ael, C. & Molero, F. (2015). Gender-typing of leadership: Evaluations of

real and ideal managers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 56, pp. 236-244

Cuddy, A.J.C., Wolf, E.B., Glick, P., Crotty, S., Chong, J. & Norton, M.I. (2015). Men as

Cultural Ideals: Cultural Values Moderate Gender Stereotype Content. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 109 (4), pp. 622–635

Danielsen, L. M., Lorem, A. E., & Kroger, J. (2000). The impact of social context on the

identity-formation process of Norwegian late adolescents. Youth & Society, 31, 332–

362

Danmarks Statistik (2014). IT anvendelse i befolkningen. Danmarks Statistik.

http://www.dst.dk/Site/Dst/Udgivelser/GetPubFile.aspx?id=18686&sid=itbef

Daun, Å. (1996). Swedish mentality. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press

Davidson, M.J. & Burke, R.J. (Eds.) (2000). Women in Management. Current Research Issues

Volume II. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.

DeRue, D.S. & Ashford, S.J. (2010). Who will lead who will follow? A social process of

leadership identity construction in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 35

(4), pp. 627-647

DeRue, D.S., Ashford, S.J. & Cotton, N.C. (2009). Assuming the mantle: Unpacking the

process by which individuals internalize a leader identity. In L.M. Roberts & J.E.

Dutton (Eds.) Exploring Positive Identities and Organizations. New York, NY:

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Desvaux, G., DevillardHoellinger, S. and Meaney, M. (2008): A business case for women. The

McKinsey Quarterly, September, 2008

Dickie, V., Cutchin, M.P. & Humphry, R. (2006). Occupation as a transactional experience: A

critique of individualism in occupational science. Journal of Occupational Science, 13,

pp. 83-93

Djøf (2008). Køn og karriere. En undersøgelse af DJØF-mænd og –kvinders karriere med

særligt fokus på ledelse. DJØF

https://www.djoef.dk/~/media/documents/djoef/k/koenogkarriere.ashx

Eagly, A.H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation.

Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Eagly, A.H. (2005). Achieving relational authenticity in leadership: Does gender matter?. The

Leadership Quarterly, 16, pp. 459-474

Eagly, A.H., Wood, W. & Diekman, A.B. (2000). Social Role Theory of Sex Differences and

Similarities: A Current Appraisal. In Thomas Eckes and Hanns M. Trautner, The

Page 48: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

48

Developmental Social Psychology of Gender (pp. 123-174).US: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Inc.

Ellersgaard, C.H. & Larsen, A.G. (2010). Firmaets Mænd – de danske

topdirektørers kollektive biografi. Sociologisk Institut, Københavns Universitet

Elmore, K.C. & Oyserman, D. (2012). If ’we’ can succeed, ’I’ can too: Identity-based

motivation and gender in the classroom. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 37, pp.

176-185

Ely, R.J. & Rhode, D.L. (2008). Women and leadership: Defining the challenges. In N. Nohria

& R. Khurana (Eds.), Handbook of leadership theory & practice: A Harvard Business

School Centennial Colloquium (pp. 377-410). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School

Ely, R.J., Stone, P. & Ammerman, C. (2014). Rethink what you “know” about high-achieving

women. Harvard Business Review, December 1

European Commission’s Expert Group on Gender and Employment (EGGE) (2009). Gender

segregation in the labour market. Root, causes, implications and policy responses in the

EU. European Commission

EU Commission Report (2012). Progress on equality between women and men in 2011 - A

Europe 2020 initiative. European Union

Fontayne, P., Sarrazin, P. & Famose, J. (2000). The Bem Sex-Role inventory: Validation of a

short version for French teenagers. European Review of Applied Psychology, 50(4), pp.

405-416

Gino, F., Wilmuth, C.A. & Brooks, A.W. (2015). Compared to men, women view

professional advancement as equally attainable, but less desirable. Proceedings of

the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (40), pp.

12354-12359

Grant Thornton International Business Report (2015). Women in business: the path to

leadership.

http://www.grantthornton.global/globalassets/insights/ibr/ibr2015_wib_re

port_final.pdf

Grant Thornton International Business Report (2013). Women in senior management –

setting the stage for growth.

http://www.grantthornton.ie/db/Attachments/IBR2013_WiB_report_final. pdf

Gray, M.P. & O’Brian, K.M. (2007). Advancing the assessment of women’s career choices:

The Career Aspiration Scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 15 (3), pp. 317-337

Gregor, M.A. & O’Brian, K.M. (2015). Understanding career aspirations among young

women. Improving instrumentation. Journal of Career Assessment, 18 August 2015.

Published online

Page 49: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

49

Grinnell, J.P. (2002). Effects of leaders’ and evaluators’ sex on sex-role stereotyping of

charismatic leaders. Psychological Reports, 91 (3), pp. 1247-1252

Gurman, E.B. & Long, K. (1992). Emergent leadership and female sex role identity. The

Journal of Psychology, 126 (3), pp. 309-316

Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J. & Andersen, R.E. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis (7th

edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Harrington, D. (2009). Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Oxford, New York: Oxford

University Press

Haveman, H.A. & Beresford, L.S. (2012). If you’re so smart, why aren’t you the boss?

Explaining the persistent vertical gender gap in management. The ANNALS of the

American Academy of Political and Social Science, 639(1), pp. 114-130

Hausmann, R., Tyson, L.D. & Zahidi, S. (2011). The Global Gender Gap Report. World

Economic Forum.

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2011.pdf

Hoffman, R.M. & Borders, L.D. (2001). Twenty-five years after the Bem Sex-Role

Inventory: A reassessment and new issues regarding classification variability.

Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34, pp. 39-55

Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences. International differences in work-related

values. London, UK: Sage

Hofstede, G. (2015). http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html

Holt, H., Geerdsen, L.P., Christensen, G., Klitgaard, C. & Lind, M. L. (2006). Det

kønsopdelte arbejdsmarked – en kvantitativ og kvalitativ belysning. København,

Danmark: Socialforskningsinstituttet

Holt, C.L. & Ellis, J.B. (1998). Assessing the current validity of the Bem Sex-Role

Inventory. Sex Roles, 39 (11/12), pp. 929-941

Ibarra, H. (1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional

adaptation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, pp. 764-791

Ingols, C. & Shapiro, M. (2015). Throwing like a girl: How traits for women business

leaders are shifting in 2015. Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO), Briefing Note

Nr 41, March 2015

Institut for Konjunktur-Analyse (2006). Holdninger til kvinder som ledere.

http://kvinderiledelse.dk/media/4908/ifka_rapport2006.pdf

Karami, R., Ismail, M. & Sail, R.M. (2007). Gender identity and career aspiration to top

management of Malaysian graduate students. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 31 (4),

pp. 439-454

Page 50: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

50

Karelaia, N. & Guillen, L. (2011). Me, a woman and a leader: Antecedents and

consequences of the identity conflict of women leaders. Faculty & Research

Working Paper, INSEAD

Kelloway, E.K. (1998). Using Lisrel for structural equation modelling – a researcher’s

guide. London: SAGE publications

Killeen, L.A., Lopez-Zafra, E. & Eagly, A.H. (2006). Envisioning oneself as a leader:

Comparison of women and men in Spain and The United States. Psychology of

Women Quarterly, 30, pp. 312-322

Kim, Y.H. (2014). Measuring career aspirations in Korean college women. Thesis.

University of Maryland.

http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/16236/Kim_umd_0117N_

15856.pdf;jsessionid=E339A533A81C53E1B8688DEDF76A1B80?sequence=1

Komives, S.R., Owen, J.E., Longerbeam, S.D., Mainella, F.C. & Osteen, L. (2005).

Developing a Leadership Identity: A grounded theory. Journal of College Student

Development, 46 (6), pp. 593-611

Komives, S.R., Owen, J.E., Longerbeam, S.D., Mainella, F.C. & Osteen, L. (2006). A

leadership identity development model: Applications from a grounded theory.

Journal of College Student Development, 47 (4), pp. 401-418

Khurana, R. (2007). From higher aims to hired hands: The social transformation of

American business schools and the unfulfilled promise of management as a

profession. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Kreuzer, B.K. (1992). Women and leadership: The effect of gender, gender-role orientation ,

socioeconomic status, and parental influence on women’s aspirations to leader roles.

(Doctoral dissertation, Western Michigan University). Dissertation Abstracts

International, 53, 4495

Larsen, A.G., Ellersgaard, C. & Bernsen, M. (2015). Magteliten. Hvordan 423 danskere styrer

landet. Politikens Forlag

Linehan, M. (2001). Networking for female managers' career development – Empirical

evidence. Journal of Management Development, 20, pp. 823-829

Long, B.C. (1989). Sex-role orientation, coping strategies and self-efficacy of women in

traditional and non-traditional occupations. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13(3), pp.

307-324

Lord, R.G., Hall, R.J. & Halpin, S.M. (2012). Leadership skill development and divergence: A

model for the early effects of gender and race on leadership development. In Susan E.

Murphy and Rebecca Reichard, Early Development and Leadership: Building the next

generation of leaders (pp. 229-254). New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis

Group

Page 51: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

51

Madsen, M.T., Jensen, S.A., Madsen, H., Neergaard, H. & Ulhøi,J.P. (2007). Think Manager –

Think Male (TMTM) - Danske lederes vurdering af personkarakteristika

kendetegnende hhv. succesfulde og ikke succesfulde ledere. Centre for Organizational

Renewal and Evolution, Aarhus University Denmark

Muzio, D. & Tomlinson, J. (2012). Editorial: Researching gender, inclusion and diversity in

contemporary professions and professional organizations. Gender, Work &

Organization, 19 (5), pp. 455-466

Myers, D.G. & Twenge, J. (2013). Social Psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Naqvi, F. (2011). Perspectives of Indian women managers in the public sector. Indian Journal

of Gender Studies, 18 (3), pp. 279-309

OECD.Stats (2015). https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R

Oyserman, D. (2009). Identity-based motivation: Implications for action-readiness,

procedural-readiness, and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, pp.

250-260

Oyserman, D. (2013). Not just any path: Implications of identity-based motivation for

disparities in school outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 33, pp. 179-190

Oyserman, D. (2015). Pathways to success through identity-based motivation. New York,

USA: Oxford University Press

Oyserman, D. & Destin, M. (2010). Identity-based motivation: Implications for intervention.

The Counseling Psychologist, 38 (7), pp. 1001-1043

Persson, R.S. (1999). Exploring the meaning of gender: Evaluating and revising the Bem Sex-

Role Inventory (BSRI) for a Swedish research context (BSRI-SE). Jönköping, Sweden:

Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication, HLK, Lifelong

learning/Encell

Poulsen, M., Brackert, T., Skov, S.M. & Nielsen, L.H. (2016). Creating Value with Gender

Diversity in Danish Companies. Denmark: The Boston Consulting Group

Rennison, B.W. (2012). Knæk kønnets koder – kvinder i ledelse. Danmark: Gyldendal Business

Riska, E. (2008). The feminization thesis: Discourses on gender and medicine. NORA – Nordic

Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 16 (1), pp. 3-18

Saab, M. (2014). The surprising countries with more women in corporate leadership than in the

US – or even Scandinavia. Time Magazine, 12 June.

http://time.com/2861431/female-executives-gender-quotas/

Savery, L.K. (1990). Men and women in the workplace: Evidence of occupational differences.

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 11, pp. 13-16

Page 52: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

52

Schein, V.E. (2001). A global look at psychological barriers to women’s progress.

Management Journal of Social Issues, 57, pp. 675-688

Schwartz, S.J. (2001). The evolution of Eriksonian and Neo-Eriksonian identity theory

research: A review and integration. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and

Research, 1 (1), pp. 7-58

Schwarts, S.J., Luycks, K. & Vignoles, V.L. (Eds.) (2011). Handbook of Identity Theory and

Research. New York, NY: Springer

Sealy, R.H.V. & Singh, V. (2009). The importance of role models and demographic context for

senior women’s work identity development. International Journal of Management

Reviews

Skorikov, V., & Vondracek, F. W. (1998). Vocational identity development: Its relationship to

other identity domains and to overall identity development. Journal of Career

Assessment, 6, 13–35

Smith, N., Smith, V. & Verner, M. (2010). The Gender Pay Gap in Top Corporate Jobs in

Denmark: Glass Ceilings, Sticky Floors or Both?. Discussion Paper No. 4848, IZA

Spencer, S.J., Steele, C,M. & Quinn, D.M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math

performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, pp. 4-28

Statistics Denmark (2015). Population in Denmark. StatBank.

http://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1366

Statistics Denmark (2015a). http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik

Steele, C.M., Spencer, S.J. & Aronson, J. (2002). Contending with group image: The

psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. Advances in Experimental Social

Psychology, 34, pp. 379-440

Timberlake, S. (2005). Social capital and gender in the workplace. Journal of Management

Development, 24 (1), 34-44

Triandis, H.C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts.

Psychological Review, 96 (3), pp. 506-520

Unruh, A.M., Versnel, J. & Kerr, N. (2002). Spirituality unplugged: A review of commonalities

and contentions, and a resolution. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69, pp.

5-19

Vafaei, A., Alvarado, B., Tomas, C., Muro, C., Martinez, B. & Zunzunegui, M.V. (2014). The

validity of the 12-item Bem Sex-Role Inventory in older Spanish population: An

examination of the androgyny model. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 59 (2),

pp. 257-263

Williams, C.L. (2013). The glass escalator revisited: Gender inequality in neoliberal

times. Gender and Society, 27 (5), pp. 609-629

Page 53: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

53

Yewchuk, C., Äystö, S. & Schlosser, G. (2001). Attribution of career facilitators by eminent

women from Canada and Finland. High Ability, 12(1)

Page 54: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

54

Appendix A

Demographic data of participants in the study

0

5

10

15

20

18-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60

Age (percentage)

48%

25%

23%

1% 3%

Marital status

Marrired

Cohabiting

Single

Widowed

Other

Page 55: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

55

33%

17%

35%

15%

Number of children living at home

0 children

1 child

2 children

3 or more children

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Highest level of education completed (percentage)

Page 56: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

56

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Unemployed

Disability pensioner

Homemaker

Apprentice / trainee

Student

Self employed /entrepreneur

Employee without staff liability

Manager without staff liability

Manager

Senior manager

Top management

Job level (percentage)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Banking, finance, pension and insurance

Construction and crafts

Design, graphic work and architecture

Retail and wholesale

Film, music, radio, TV

Fishing, farming and forestry

Research and development

Energy and water supply, waste management

Hotel, restaurant and hospitality service

Human resource

Industry and production

Engineering

IT and tele communication

Legal assistance, accounting and business advice

Administration and secretary work

Cultural activities, art, sport and tourism

Pharmaceutical industry

Public administration

Press, publishing and communication

Advertising and market analysis

Sales

Social and health care services

Transportation

Rent and leasing

Teaching and educational work

Security and surveillance

Other

Type of industry (percentage)

Page 57: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

57

Appendix B

Questionnaire

PART 1 – DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION What is your gender?

Male Female What is your age?

18-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 What is the highest degree or level of education that you have completed?

Primary or lower secondary school Upper secondary education Vocational education Short-cycle higher education Medium-cycle higher education or bachelor’s degree Long-cycle higher education or master’s degree PhD, MBA, post doc Other (please specify) What is your current job level?

(if you are currently on maternity leave or on sick leave, please chose the job level you had before your leave) Unemployed Disability pensioner Homemaker Apprentice / trainee Student Self employed /entrepreneur Employee without staff liability Manager without staff liability (e.g. team manager, group manager, project manager) Manager Senior manager Top management (e.g. director, vice president, C-level executive, CEO) What type of industry do you work in?

(if you are currently unemployed, chose the type of industry you worked in most recently) Banking, finance, pension and insurance Construction and crafts Design, graphic work and architecture Retail and wholesale Film, music, radio, TV Fishing, farming and forestry Research and development Energy and water supply, waste management Hotel, restaurant and hospitality service Human resource Industry and production Engineering IT and tele communication Legal assistance, accounting and business advice Administration and secretary work

Page 58: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

58

Cultural activities, art, sport and tourism Pharmaceutical industry Public administration Press, publishing and communication Advertising and market analysis Sales Social and health care services Transportation Rent and leasing Teaching and educational work Security and surveillance Other (please specify) What is your marital status?

Married Cohabiting with partner Single Widowed Other How many children do you have that still live at home?

0 children 1 child 2 children 3 or more children PART 2 – YOUR PERCEPTION OF WHO YOU ARE

Here you are presented with 25 personality characteristics in the form of statements. You are to use those statements in order to describe yourself. That is, you are to indicate, on a scale from 1 to 7, how true these

statements are for you. Please do not leave any statements unmarked. Please be as honest as possible. There are no incorrect answers. (Likert scale: 1=Never or Almost never true – 7=Always or almost always true)

1. I am self-reliant

2. I am affectionate

3. I defend my own beliefs

4. I am assertive

5. I am soft spoken

6. I have a strong personality

7. I am sympathetic

8. I am warm

9. I am forceful

10. I have leadership abilities

11. I am compassionate

12. I am sensitive to the needs of others

13. I am willing to take risks

14. I am eager to soothe hurt feelings

15. I am understanding

16. I make decisions easily

17. I am self-sufficient

18. I am loyal

19. I am dominant

20. I am masculine

21. I am tender

22. I am gentle

23. I am willing to take a stand

24. I act as a leader

25. I am feminine

Page 59: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

59

PART 3 – CAREER ASPIRATIONS How interested are you in pursuing one of the following management positions?

(Likert scale: Not at all interested – Not very interested – Neutral - Somewhat interested – Very interested) Top manager position Senior manager position Manager position Do you see yourself in a managing position within the next 5 years?

(Likert scale: Not at all – Not really – Undecided – Somewhat - Very much) Top manager position Senior manager position Manager position How much do you agree to the following statements?

(Likert scale: Strongly Disagree – Disagree – Neither agree nor disagree – Agree – Strongly Agree) - I hope to become a top manager in my career field

- I would like to be the top manager of other high placed managers

- I hope to move up to a top leadership position in my organisation or business

- I plan to rise to the top leadership position of my organisation or business

- I want to have responsibility for the future direction of my organisation or business

PART 4 – EDUCATION AND JOB LEVEL OF PARENTS AND PARTNER What is/was your mother’s highest level of education?

Primary or lower secondary school Upper secondary education Vocational education Short-cycle higher education Medium-cycle higher education or bachelor’s degree Long-cycle higher education or master’s degree PhD, MBA, post doc I do not know What was your mother’s primary job level when you were a child (age 0-14)?

Unemployed Disability pensioner Homemaker Apprentice / trainee Student Self employed /entrepreneur Employee without staff liability Manager without staff liability (e.g. team manager, group manager, project manager) Manager Senior manager Top management (e.g. director, vice president, C-level executive, CEO) I do not know What is/was your father’s highest level of education?

Primary or lower secondary school Upper secondary education Vocational education Short-cycle higher education Medium-cycle higher education or bachelor’s degree Long-cycle higher education or master’s degree PhD, MBA, post doc I do not know What was your father’s primary job level when you were a child (age 0-14)?

Unemployed Disability pensioner

Page 60: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

60

Homemaker Apprentice / trainee Student Self employed /entrepreneur Employee without staff liability Manager without staff liability (e.g. team manager, group manager, project manager) Manager Senior manager Top management (e.g. director, vice president, C-level executive, CEO) I do not know What is your partner’s highest level of education?

Primary or lower secondary school Upper secondary education Vocational education Short-cycle higher education Medium-cycle higher education or bachelor’s degree Long-cycle higher education or master’s degree PhD, MBA, post doc I do not know I do not have a partner / my partner is dead What is your partner’s primary job level?

Unemployed Disability pensioner Pensioner or retiree Homemaker Apprentice / trainee Student Self employed /entrepreneur Employee without staff liability Manager without staff liability (e.g. team manager, group manager, project manager) Manager Senior manager Top management (e.g. director, vice president, C-level executive, CEO) I do not know I do not have a partner / my partner is dead PART 5 – YOUR PERCEPTION OF A TOP MANAGING POSITION

Here you will be presented with 25 personality characteristics in the form of statements. You are to use those statements in order to describe your perception of a top manager. That is, you are to indicate, on a scale from 1 to

7, how true these statements are for a top manager in your opinion. Please do not leave any statements unmarked. (Likert scale: 1=Never or Almost never true – 7=Always or almost always true)

Definition of a top manager:

Top managers are the highest ranking executives responsible for the entire enterprise. Top management translates the policy (formulated by the board-of-directors) into goals, objectives, and strategies, and projects a shared-vision of the future. Examples of job titles: Private sector: C-level management (CEO, CIO, CFO etc.), executive vice president, chairman/chairwomen, president, member of the board of directors. Public sector: Mayor, president, director, Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, rector, Permanent Secretary. A top manager:

- Is self-reliant

- Is affectionate

- Defends own beliefs

- Is assertive

- Is soft spoken

- Has a strong personality

- Is sympathetic

- Is warm

Page 61: THE GLASS SLIPPER EFFECT - Spangsdorf-Staalspangsdorf-staal.dk/The_Glass_Slipper_Effect_2016_danske... · 2016-06-21 · May 2016. 2 CONTENTS Resumé på dansk ... glass cliff og

61

- Is forceful

- Has leadership abilities

- Is compassionate

- Is sensitive to the needs of others

- Is willing to take risks

- Is eager to soothe hurt feelings

- Is understanding

- Makes decisions easily

- Is self-sufficient

- Is loyal

- Is dominant

- Is masculine

- Is tender

- Is gentle

- Is willing to take a stand

- Acts as a leader

- Is feminine

PART 6 – LACK OF WOMEN IN TOP MANAGEMENT IN DENMARK

In Denmark women make up 23% of senior management and board room positions. In China women make up 51% of senior management and in Poland the percentage of women is 48%. Why do you think there are so few women in top management positions in Denmark, in both the public and private sector?